cicadashell

kinda messy out there. minimal mashed potatoes on the road, no drivers spinning out, no snowplows at inconvenient times. i hope things don't freeze up too seriously. more snow is certainly on its way, but it's unclear when it will arrive. anyway, it was good to be back on the bike after a too-lengthy lull.

thechrisproject

Messy. It's still snowing. There was about 4 inches on the ground when I woke up; we're expected to get that much more today. I just put on studded tires last night. It might be a bit slippery going home.

billh

Caca happens. about 1/2 mile out of the gate, I brake and feel them slip. Great. It's pouring cats and dogs and I need my brakes. I have 7.5 miles to go. I'd been fooling with the front brakes a couple days ago so I check them and the pads have spread apart. So I get out my trusty allen wrench. What, it's not there! Argh, it dropped in the muddy grass while I was fumbling with the zipper on my pack. I loosen the screw on my Avid Shorty 4's and . . . the screw totally sheers off!!! Damn!!! I'm screwed!!! What to do??? My wife already left for work. OK, find another screw. Water bottle screw too big. My eyes scan the bike for extra screws. Ah, the tagalong hitch. I frantically unscrew one of the screws, already late for work. It fits!!! YES! I'm back in business.

Tree Trunk

I am wimping out right now and riding rollers instead of riding outside. Someone slap me and knock me back into reality!!!

motorhommmer

Great, been on hols for two weeks off the bike resting up and getting plenty of walking.

vrkelley

Ditto...major ice on our hills here. After last year's fall(s), Dr. said no more ice.

balto charlie

We in DC area are slowly returning to winter 44F and rain. Kinda sucked Charlie

RonH

The commuting has been fantastic all week. Morning temperatures in the high 40s to 50F (~8 to 10C). Today I had to stop about half way to work and strip down to shorts, shirt and no gloves. The lightweight windbreaker over my shirt and lightweight full finger gloves were too much.
Coming home I had shorts, shirt, and half-finger gloves. I was soaked when I walked in the house.


I feel sorry for all you folks up north. The weather-guessers say these temperatures are supposed to continue through the middle of next week. Is this the beginning of global warming?

caloso

Expected rain this morning but it was dry. That's a nice bonus. I'll be staying a bit late tonight at work so hopefully I'll miss the bulk of the commute. Perhaps I can swing a bit of a detour down by the river rather than riding straight home....

ollo_ollo

Brrrrrr 19F at 6AM today. Yesterday's sunshine & breeze left local roads dry, so I rode my Grand Jubile & only had to dodge a few frozen puddles. By lunchtime it was a balmy 31F & on my ride home for lunch, a pitbull ran at me from across the street. I sped up & he passed behind then wheeled around & fell in next to my rear wheel, fixated on my rapidly churning right foot. I yelled "No, bad dog!" & that got him to look up at me & hesitate. Then his owner yelled from his porch & the dog gave it up & trotted back across the street. A passing truck blew his horn & scared the dog back into his yard. I pass this house daily & never saw this dog before. Hope he was just a visitor. Don

tg1896

The weather is bringing out the crazy bikers down here (65 on the way home today). I saw one guy riding against traffic on the left side of the street, sort of weaving along, staring at the trees. A couple of blocks later, here comes another guy towards me tooling down the sidewalk. These clueless commuters make me nervous.........

Wulfheir

-3C. Nice ride in, pretty uneventful. I asked my GF to drive me because I woke up late and thought it was still -27C. Glad I biked, and still got to work with 15mins to spare.

billh

Interesting. With all the rain the last few days, I just left my bike on the back porch last night, only to hop on it this morning and find that my rear der had frozen solid, one of the rear cantis was stuck, and my chain was lumpy. I applied liberal doses of WD40 and chain lube and was able to get the chain and brakes working. However, I was stuck in my 27 cog on the back. At least my front der was working so I had a nice long 2-gear spinning ride to work! Fortunately, the bike gets to sit in a nice toasty indoor garage all day so hope it will be thawed out and dried by tonight.

balto charlie

DC 44F rain, again It's getting old but still beats the car. I want to see the sun. Charlie

vtjim

Good ride this morning. 14F degrees. Balaclava and ski goggle stuff.

It's now snowing. Supposed to get 3 to 6 inches. I figure my evening commute will be fun. Tomorrow morning might be a little rough though. (Again, I ride a rail trail, so no cars. Just snow depth.)

tulip

foggy and misty, but not too cold (40ish I would guess). New fenders worked like a charm. It seems that I ride a bit slower in the winter, but maybe it's just because I didn't ride much over the holidays.

SaskCyclist

Today is -25 with a tail wind for most of the way. I tried some ski goggles this am rather than just glasses. They were great for the first 5 mins and fogged up. Anti-fog my ass. Many places that used to be two lanes each way is now 1.5 or sometimes one due to all the snow. The city also has not cleared any bike paths. So I had to stop at one point and drag the bike through 2 feet of snow for about 200 feet. It could always be worse though. I could have been in a car or on a bus.

spidercyclist

Nice ride today .A little wet and icy. But still a good ride to work and home . Got to ride the ss today .
Life is good .

ridealot

Good first ride of the year today on the new Gary Fisher. Got to use my Chrome bag too. Both worked great! The tempature was right around 30F and wind was calm. Good ride, lots of potholes now out there to avoid. Looking forward to the ride home.

cyclezealot

I hate to acknowledge this thread...Raining like crazy out here IN So. Cal...Next 4 days are to be rainy...I have not been on the bike for the past 10 days due to either rain or work schedule not allowing for such..Enough to make a cyclist nuts...Could get out the trainer and tour about the garage.
Day temp's are about 55-60....Frost bite on the downhills.

Corsaire

Icy commute this morning, had to be careful by slowing down a lot.
I slidded dowm a steep hill, had to get off the bike the last 40 yards of the top of the hill and walk it, otherwise uneventful.
Corsaire

tulip

uneventful, just like I like it. The Guv'ment is fencing off all the "public" spaces around the National Mall for the Big Honkin' Party in a couple of weeks. No doubt, my commute will change, unless I can learn to bunny-hop Jersey barriers.

billh

55-66!!! C'mon you weenie, get out there and ride!!! What are you made of . . . sugar?

madhouse

First commute of the New Year. Because of weather/schedule conflicts I only biked three times in December. I lost all conditioning that I had gained over the past several months! I started out late. One of my two lights wouldn’t work, so I stopped and put on my emergency light. The cable from the non-working light got caught in my front spokes—luckily no harm done. I had to stop and make some clothing adjustments. I switch to my heavy, low pressure, studded tires. All this equaled me being 15 minutes late… luckily I set my own hours so I technically can’t be late… but it doesn’t look the best. Did I mention it’s great to be back on the bike!

Oh, I found my cold limit… 7F… My wife set my limit at 10F for safety concerns; accuweather.com lured me out with a forecasted, balmy 25F this afternoon so I snuck out this morning. My toes didn’t like the temp, everything else was fine… I guess I’ll stay with my 10F limit.

cyclezealot

Yeah..But it is a cold rain coming down...Motorists here do not know how to cope with wet rains/roads...Guess same holds true of many cyclists...Cold, wet feet.How miserable..